Glass-furnace and appurtenances thereof.



No. 883,779. PATENTED APR. 7, 1908.

H. M. 'BROOKFIELD.

GLASS FURNACE AND APPURTENANGES THEREOF. APPLICATION FILED DEC; 28.1903.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

wmvessas: mvsmon ATTORNEYS No. 883,779. PATEN' IED APR. 7,-1908.

H. M. BROOKFIELD.

GLASS FURNACE AND APPURTENANCES THEREOF. APPLICATION rum) DBO. 2a. 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

IINVENTOR M I ET-W 1 W W ATTORNEYS No. 883,779. PATENTED APR. 7, 1908.H. M. BROOKPIELD. GLASS FURNACE AND APPURTENANGES THEREOF.

APPLICATION FILED 13120.28, 1903. v

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

BY 7Q *B QW ATTURN EYS WITNESSES: v

HENRY M. nnooic'rrnLn, ornnw YoRK, n. Yjl, ASSIGNOR To BROOKFIELD GLASSooMPANY,

A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

' amass-cannon am) To. all whom it may "concern; I Be it known that I,HENRY M. BR'ooK- FIELD, a citizen of the United States, and a. residentof the city, county, and State of ,5 New'York, have invented certainnewand view partly in section of a 2 and '5, with a discharge chamber.3, whose is a specification. y nvention relates from. Its object is tomake the operation of such devices automatic, to provide devices forautomatically feeding molten glass from cthe furnace, to render such.feeding certain and accurate, and to provide means for adjustingsuchfeeding devices to. vary the amount of feed as required"; also 'to'automatically measure the glass. It consists of :the novel devices andcombinations herein shown and described.

I have shown my improvement in connection with a press for making glassinsulators although it is obvious that it' may vbe eni- -plo'yed withother apparatus and for other purposes. 7 In the drawings accompanyingthis s ecification and'forming part' hereof, I V ave shown and will nowproceed to describe my improvement as embodied in its preferred form inconnection with a press for making glass insulators.

In such drawings Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my improveddevices in their preferred forms shown in connection with a press formaking insulators, many of the parts of the press, having no directconnection with my improvement, being omitted merely for the sake ofclearness and the furnace being shown only in part; Fig.- 2 is alongitudinal section through a part of the furnace showing my improveddevices for feeding, measuring, and delivering the molten glass part ofthe said measuring, and delivering devices; a detail and side view ofpart of the 5 shows a ,modifeeding, Fig. 4 is said mechanism; and Fig.

fication of the feeding and measuring de- Vices. 5O

Referr' to the form of my invention shown in t e drawings, 1 representsa glass furnace and 2 the molten glass therein. The furnace is provided,as shown in Figs.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Original application flied November- 15, 1901, Serial No. 82,368.Divided and'this application filed December 28,-' 1903. Serial110.186,?68. y

to glass furnaces and shown, for

10 to means for feeding themolten glass there--.

'of the molten "carrying in the ordinary manner. ulley 18', from whichpower is pa-rte 'rics pulley 18,

from the furnace; Fig. 3 is a front arru'a'rnuanons mus floor 4 israised above-the level of the floor'5 of the main part of the furnace.

6 is a boot of ordinary construction to re- :.vent the scum on thesurface of the mo ten glass in the main useful Improvements inGlass-Furnaces and Appurtenances Thereof, of which the follow?- art ofthe furnace from passing into the ischarge chamber. The floor 4 of thedischarge chamber is provided with an orifice 7 preferably beveled, asthe better. seating upon it of a This valve controls the discharge lassfrom the furnace, and this valve may ejraised from its seat or loweredupon it by "any suitable means. shown in Figs. 1 and 2, ered by thefollowing {described mechanism.

valve 8.

The rod 9 which carries valve .8 is pivotally secured at 10 to lever 11,fulcrumed at 12 and provided at its other end with a rod 13 a roller 14.which runs upon a cam 15', mounted on shaft 16, fingers 17 of rod 13embracing'the shaft, as shown in Fig. 2, Shaft 16 is drlven from fromany suitable source, through gear 19, mounted on the same shaft 20 whichcargcar 21, turning on stud 22 and meshing with gear 19, and gear 23-011shaft 16. By these means, valve8 is auto-. matically controlled and isopened the roper distancc and kept open just the exact l ength of timenecessary to permit the desired amount of molten lass to esca e from thefurnace. By chan g the s cc of the driving parts, or by a justing t egearin the amount of discharge can be accurate y adjusted. I also preferto make valve 8 ad justable upon rod 9, as by means of screwthreads, asshown in Fig. 2, inorder to furnish an additional means of adjustment.Valve 8 is plrovided with beveled surfaces to seat upon t shown'in Fig.2.

26 is a burner of any suitable construction for throwing a jet of flamethrough orifice 27 upon the glass in the discharge chamber to thefurnace. In 'the a paratus shown the lassis delivered to mol s 42 formaking glass insulators in a 1plress 4 5 for that purpose. The detailsof t PatentedApril 7, 1908. 1

it is raised and low-- e beveled surfaces of orifice 7 as.

p v sjpress are not shown, as they form no part of the presentinvention.

, suitable means.

charge from the furnace so that it may be. In the form shown,

delivered to the molds. the receiver is provided with a plurality ofdished surfaces 29, each provided with bounding side walls 30. As shown,the receiver is mounted integral with shaft 31 in sleeves or bearin s 32carried by the framework of the mac inc and shaft 31 is intermittentlyrotated through gear 33 and wheel 34, the latter having a segment 35,provided with gear teeth, as shown in Fig. 4. Gear 34 is mounted onshaft 20, and at each revolution rotates the receiver, in the form shownin the drawings, one-third of a rotation, bringing a new dished surfaceinto place to receive another mass of molten glass.

In, the form shown in Figs. 1-4.t he receiving surface is locked intoposition after each .one-third revolution. For this purpose, a

disk 36 is mounted on shaft 31 provided with dished surfaces 37corresponding to those of the receiver and a disk 38 is mounted on shaft20 to engage the surfaces 37, as shown in Fig. 4. A part of theperiphery of disk 38 is cut away as at 39. This cut-away portion is oposite to the toothed segment 35 of Whee 34, as shown in Fig. 4. Thisarrangement unlocks the receiver shaft at the time that gear 35 mesheswith gear 33 and permits shaft 31 and the receiver with it to rotateone-third of a revolution. The receiver may be composed of one or anynumber of receiving surfaces and may be of any desired form orconstruction. As shown, it is composed of three receiving surfaces. Theinterior of the receiver is preferably made hollow to receive .a coolingmedium 24 supplied to it through pi es 40 and the hollow interior ofshaft 31. 'nless the receiver is cooled, the molten glass is liable tostick to its surfaces.

The molten glass can be removed from the receiver for delivery to themolds by any As shown in the drawings, I provide for this pur ose atrough 41 laced so. that at each one-t ird rotation of t e receiver, themolten glass is em tied from one of. the dished surfaces upon W ich itwas fed, into the trough, and passes down through the trough into a mold42. 43, in Fig. 2, is a mass of molten glass just passing into the mold.Trough 41 is cooled by any suitable cooling medium 24 throufgh pipes 44in order E0 prevent the sticking o the glass to its surace.

It is not essential to my broad invention that delivering mechanism beinterposed between the rotating receiver and the mold, as for example,in cases where a mold is arranged to pass immediately beneath thereceiver and to receive the separated masses directly from the receiveritself. I prefer,

desired receptacle. In the drawings, as

above stated, it is shown as delivered to molds mounted upon a turntableress for 'making glass insulators, the turnta le beingrotated in theordinary way and by any suitable means to bring each mold in turn pasttrough 41. 46 represents an additional trough fixed to each mold or tothe .turntable in each mold to aid in carrying the molten glass fromtrough 41 into the mold proper.

Fig. 5 represents an arrangement in which valve 8 is adapted to be keptopen during all the time the press is working and in which the glass isseparated and measured by means of the rotating receiver alone and formsa longitudinal section through the receiver and a part of the furnaceand trough. It is intended merely to illustrate, without giving all ofthe details and connections, the construction last above referred to. Inthis case, valve 8 can he opened and closed in any suitable way, as forinstance by hand, or by in any Way disconnecting rod 9 and valve 8 fromtheir driving mechanism shown in Figs. 14. It is left open during theoperation of the press. A steady stream of moltenglass will,accordingly, flow down onthe receiver. The receiver in such case will berotated preferably continuously, and at such a speed that from the timeone edge 53 of the dished surface passes the opening 7 in the furnaceuntil anot er edge 53 of the same dished surface passes the said point,the exact amount of molten glass required for each'insulator or otherarticle will have flowed down through the opening upon the dishedsurface 29. A scraper 54, secured to the framework of the press in anysuitable manner (not'shown) is arranged near the top of the receiver inclose proximity to the left hand end of opening 7 53 and push or scrapethe molten glass that may have fallen upon it back on to the next dishedsurface 29. Each mass of molten glass is emptied by its dished surface uon trough 41 in the manner already describe Many modifications anddepartures from the particular form of devices shown in the drawingsmay, of course, be made without departing from my invention,the'essentials of which are set forth in the claims appended hereto. Ifdesired, the valve 8 may be cooled by a cooling medium in the samemanner as the receiver. It will be understood that, where the valve 8 isintermittently opened and closed and the receiver 28 is intermittentlyseems driven, the feeding and measuring devices, for feedingandseparating the, glass into masses of the desired amount, consist of,valve 8, rod 9 and the means for opening and closing the valve and fortiming such movement, taken in connection with receiver 28 and .itsdriving arts. But where valve 8 is continuously le open and receiver 28is continuously driven or rotated, the measuring devices, which separatethe molten glass into masses of the desired amount, are not in contactin any way with the molten glass in the furnace but are entirely outsideof the furname.

This is-theformI prefer to use. 7 In suchform by va o ning or the speeof the receiver, or bot t e amount f each. mass can be accuratelyad'usted. t am aware that" attempts have'been made to automatically feedmolten glass from .a furnace and to separate the lass into masses of thedesired amount, but a 1 such attempts,

hand, any attempt;

so far as I know or am informed, have been failures, because the se comeinto contact wit the molten glass in the furnace. Such contact rapidlyheats the metallic surfaces of the separating devices causing the moltenglass to-stick to them and to clog-the passages and stop the a paratusand renderit wholly useless. On t e other to cool such separatingdevices tends to c 11 the molten glass at the pointof its discharge fromthe furnace and soon clogs the dischar e orifice and wholly stops theflow ofthe g ass. These troubles are completely overcome by my improveddevice. By their use, in their preferred form, the separating means canbe properly cooled'without effecting in any way the discharge of themolten glass-from the furnace, as they are not in contact in any waywith the molten glass in the furnace or at the oint of discharge, andthereby all trouble, ere

. tofore encountered in automatically feeding accurately and wit andseparating glass, is effectually overcome. By means of my improvement,the amount of molten glass supplied in each instance is certaintydetermined;

the feed can be adjusted easily, accurately, and with certainty in orderto vary the amount of glass supplied from the furnace; the feeding andmeasurin may be made automatic; the cost of ma 'ng glass articles,

such as insulators, is materially reduced, and

such articles themselves are made of better ap earance' and more perfectform.

his present application is a divisional apphcation of my application,Serial No. filed November 15th, 1901, for an improvement in apparatusfor making glass insulators or other glass articles.

What I claim as .new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination of a furnace for molten glass provided with adischarge chamber the size of the dischar e arating devices have' withthe molten glass in the arating the lass into masses amount, an meansautomatically actuated having its floor raised above the level of thefloor of the main part of the furnace, an orifice in one of the walls ofthe 'dischar e chamber for the discharge of the glass, an a valve forsaid orifice to control the discharge of olten glass therefrom. 2; Thecombination of a furnace for mol ten glass provided with a dischargechamberhaving its floor raised above the evel of the floor of themainpart of the furnace, an orifice in the floor of the dischar e chamberfor the discharge ofthe glass, a vaIve for said orifice to control thedischarge of the molten giiass therefrom, and a boot separating the v p'scharge chamber from the main part of the furnace. I i

3. The combination with a furnace pro vided with an orifice for thedischarge of'niolten glass, of a trough for.

with a hollow space or chamber, and means forsupplying a cooling mediumto such space or chamber, whereby the sticking of the molten glass tothe surface of the trough will be prevented.

4'. In a machine for making glass insulators or other similar smallglass articles the combination of a furnace for molten glass, devicesfor feeding the molten glass in a stream from the furnace means forheating the glass to keep it at the proper temperature at the point ofdischarge and for se arating the stream of glass into masses of thedesired amount. 7

5. In a machine for making glass insulators- -or other similar smallglass articles the combination of a furnace for molten glass, devicesfor feeding the molten glass in a stream from the furnace means forheating the glass to conveying the mol-' ten glass to the point ofdehvery provided keep it at the proper tempera ture at the point ofdischarge, and measuring devices, not in contact with the molten glassin the furnace, upon which the stream of glass is adapted to fall, forseparating the glass into masses of the desired amount.

6. In a machine for making glass insulators or other similar small glassarticles-the combinationof a furnace for molten glass, an

orifice for the discharge of the glass therefrom means for heating theglass to keep it at the proper temperature at the point of measuringdevices, not in contact furnace, for sepof the desired discharge,

for operating the measuring devices.

7. In a machine for making glass insulators or other similar small glassarticles the combination ofa furnace for molten glass, an orifice forthe discharge of the molten lass therefrom means for heating the glassto eep it at the proper temperature at the point of discharge, and areceiver not in contact with the molten glass in the furnace, adapted toreceive the glass as discharged therefrom a proper temperature at thepoint discharge therefrom, a rotating receiver, provided with one ormore dished surfaces, adapted to receive the stream-of glass asdischarged from the furnace and to separate it into masses of thedesired amount, and a scraper adapted.

to make contact with the edges of the dished surfaces, as the receiverrotates, to hold back any excess of molten glass.

9. The combination of a furnace for molten glass, means for feeding theglass and separating it into masses of the desired amount, a trough forreceiving each mass separately and conveying it to the point ofdelivery, said trough provided with a hollow space or chamber, and meansfor supplying cooling medium to such space, Whereby'the sticking of themolten glass to the surfaces of the trough will be prevented.

10. In a machine for making glass insulators or other similar smallglass articles the combination of a'furnace for molten glass, an orificefor the discharge of the molten lass therefrom means for heating theglass to eep sired amount, and means it at the proper temperature at thepoint of discharge, .a measuring device for separating the glass intomasses ofthe desired amount and means for cooling said measuring device.

1 1. In a machine for making glass insulators or other similar smallglass articles the combination of a furnace for molten glass, an orificefor the discharge of the molten glass therefrom means for heating theglass to keep it at the proper temperature at the point of dis charge, ameasurin devicefnot in contact with the molten g ass in the furnace forseparating the glass into masses of the de for cooling said measuringdevice.

12. In a lass measuring and delivering apparatus, t e combination with amelting pot and a chambered extension thereof adapted to contain moltenglass and having a discharge orifice, a rotatable carrier journaledbeneathsaid extension, receptacles on said carrier registrablesuccessivelywith said orifice and means within the chamber and 0 throughsaid discharge orificefor'ai feed to said receptacle.

rating 13. In combination witha receptacle for molten glass, an outlettherefrom, means for said outlet, means for opening and closinmaintaining the'out et at a high temperature and-means for preventingthe formation of a receptacle to which the measured quantity of glass isto be delivered.

15. In a. device for intermittently delivering molten glass from areceptacle, an outlet from the receptacle, a gate for closing andopening said outlet, means for maintaining the outlet and gate at a hightemperature, means for opening and closing said gate, means formalntaining the glass flowing from said outlet at a high temperature,and means for preventing the formation of a thread from the glassfalling from the outlet upon the" closure of the gate.

16. In a device for intermittently delivering molten glass from a recetacle, an outlet for the glass, and as jets, or severing the threadtending to. orm from thecharge of glass delivered from the outlet.

17. In a'device for intermittently delivering molten glass from areceptacle, an outlet through which glass may flow from'the receptacle,a gate normally closing. said outlet, positively acting mechanism foropening the gate and means for permitting said gate to close withoutpositively actuating it.

In testimony whereof, I have signedmy name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY M. BROOKFIELD.

I Witnesses: a

EDWIN SEGER, JOHN O. GEMPLER.

